The chapter aims to deconstruct the role of Iran (often described as “the main source of instability” in the Middle East) in the region, while addressing two main research questions that much have to do with past and the present of the country and the broader region: What are the historical roots of “political Shiʿism” in Iran? Which historical dynamics have contributed the most to trigger the involvement of the Iranian clergy in politics? In the fortieth anniversary of the Iranian revolution, academic answers to these questions appear more relevant than ever. To this end, the chapter provides a detailed historical framework by focusing on four interrelated historical junctures: 1) The Tobacco Revolt of 1891-2, which triggered the conditions “to the emergence of Shi’ism as an insurrectionary movement against colonialism”. 2) The dynamics which prompted London to foster the rising of Reza Shah (1921) as the penultimate Shah of Persia and the first of the Pahlavi dynasty. 3) The coup d’état of 1953, which ended Iran’s drive to assert sovereign control over its own resources. 4) The 1979’s “Islamic Revolution”, whose causes and implications are still very much visible in the lacerations that affect the region. Fernand Braudel noted that even an apparently minor event may be the mirror of a long-term reality, or of a “structural conjuncture”. The four “moments” on which the article focuses are themselves the components of a larger and more complex “structure” that, in different ways and forms, continues to echo in Iran, as well as in a large part of the Middle East. The qablan (before), alan (now) and ayandeh (future) of Iran – as well as that of the rest of the region – are and will remain inextricably bound together.
Whose Stability? Assessing the 'Iranian Threat' Through History
lorenzo kamel
2019-01-01
Abstract
The chapter aims to deconstruct the role of Iran (often described as “the main source of instability” in the Middle East) in the region, while addressing two main research questions that much have to do with past and the present of the country and the broader region: What are the historical roots of “political Shiʿism” in Iran? Which historical dynamics have contributed the most to trigger the involvement of the Iranian clergy in politics? In the fortieth anniversary of the Iranian revolution, academic answers to these questions appear more relevant than ever. To this end, the chapter provides a detailed historical framework by focusing on four interrelated historical junctures: 1) The Tobacco Revolt of 1891-2, which triggered the conditions “to the emergence of Shi’ism as an insurrectionary movement against colonialism”. 2) The dynamics which prompted London to foster the rising of Reza Shah (1921) as the penultimate Shah of Persia and the first of the Pahlavi dynasty. 3) The coup d’état of 1953, which ended Iran’s drive to assert sovereign control over its own resources. 4) The 1979’s “Islamic Revolution”, whose causes and implications are still very much visible in the lacerations that affect the region. Fernand Braudel noted that even an apparently minor event may be the mirror of a long-term reality, or of a “structural conjuncture”. The four “moments” on which the article focuses are themselves the components of a larger and more complex “structure” that, in different ways and forms, continues to echo in Iran, as well as in a large part of the Middle East. The qablan (before), alan (now) and ayandeh (future) of Iran – as well as that of the rest of the region – are and will remain inextricably bound together.
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